EU discuss improved co-operaton after terror threat

A day after reaffirming its own backing for the war against terrorism, the European Union sat down with neighbouring countries today to discuss improving co-operation.

Foreign ministers and other officials from the 13 applicant countries in central and eastern Europe, as well as non-EU countries in western Europe

Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein were invited to the conference in Brussels by Belgium, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

Russia, Ukraine and Moldova were also being included in a working lunch ‘‘in view of the importance of the subject,’’ according to a Belgian Government statement.

Delegates were to report on steps they have taken in the war on terror and discuss ways to co-ordinate efforts, especially in such areas as cutting off funding for terror groups and cracking down on money laundering.

They also were looking to intensify information exchanges on ‘‘the new terrorist threat posed by biological and chemical weapons,’’ the government statement said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen welcomed Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem outside the Egmont Palace before the conference began, praising the ‘‘very positive and constructive role’’ Turkey has played in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

On Friday, EU leaders finished a summit in Ghent pledging their continued support for the US-led campaign against Afghanistan’s Taliban regime for harbouring terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden.

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said the United States had asked the EU for specific help in judicial assistance and extradition, stopping proliferation of biological, chemical and nuclear material that could be used as weapons and cracking down on forged documents such as passports and visas.